Good news to the tens of millions of lunkheads who take comfort in the fantasy that the U.S. government has their most basic needs and chosen values at heart, especially when it comes to “protecting our children” from the evils of drugs. You can rest easy now. Richard Paey, 45-year-old father of three, wheelchair bound and disabled from a car accident in 1985, suffering also from multiple sclerosis, is safely locked away for the next 25 years because he purchased pharmaceutical-grade medication to ease his suffering. The story here. I have only to point out a few things: 1. The drug war is utter stupidity on many levels, this just one of them. 2. It’s more than unfortunate that it takes such an extreme example to illustrate its destructiveness to most people. 3. This story is really small peanuts compared to the enormous waste and destruction of values that takes place daily as a result of this charade. 4. It would be nice if, rather than having to point to examples like this to illustrate my point, I could simply say that the government and its voting and tax-paying supporters want to determine your values for you, and lock you…
Archives for April 2004
Justice as a Principle – In Film
Usually when I hear talk of justice being served, I am not convinced that the concept is being used in the way that I think of it—In the way that it should be. Most often, it seems to me, “justice” is exercised as a practicality, as a tool, a public policy. Did Martha Stewart get justice? No, she got ego-“justice.” The nation-state pays lip service to “justice,” but what it is really doing is taking practical measures to keep challenges to its authority and preeminence in check. Justice is the principle that everyone gets what they deserve. No exceptions. No mercy. Harsh, but in a world where justice really existed, it would be a whole lot easier to separate the good from the bad. My wife dragged me out to see the new Denzel Washington film, Man on Fire, last evening. It’s the story of an ex-soldier, Creasy (played by Denzel), who drinks too much but is nonetheless hired to protect a prominent family in Mexico City against a rash of kidnappings. Creasy becomes attached to Pita (played by Dakota Fanning), the 10-yr old girl he is charged to protect. She adores him too, and the bond becomes more important…
Your Crack Can Land Your Ass in Jail
In case any of you “crack-pots” out there foolishly thought that the darkness of the crack of your butt was beyond the purview of government’s big fat nose, think again. Louisiana lawmaker Derrick Sheperd has introduced a bill to ban the wearing of pants below the waist. The bill would make it a crime to do so, subjecting offenders to a fine of up to $500, jail time of up to six months, or both. No, it’s no joke. Here’s the bill. Here’s an AP article on it. Interestingly, not an hour ago, I was writing an email to a family list having to do with the recent overtime pay changes that all the “friends of labor” websites are up in arms about. It strikes me that not 1 in 1 million people out there will see how the absurdity of the above and the “oh-so-necessary” labor laws are just two sides of the same coin. You fools have the government you deserve. (AP link via WND)
A More Appropriate Pledge
It seems to me that so long as we’re deciding whether such atrocities as invoking the generic concept of God in the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance can be tolerated, it struck me that it might be high time to modernize the whole Pledge outright. After all, it has been modified twice since being penned by socialist Francis Bellamy in the first place. And so, let me propose the following rewrite, such as to make it more congruous with our current socio-political experience. The Pledge of Allegiance: I pledge allegiance, to the government; Of the Unified State of America; And to the collective, for which it stands; One society: one for all, and all for one; With diversity and safety for all.